What It Cost

This was the most expensive excursion, on a daily basis, that we have ever attempted. Although it was a group tour with ten people to share certain costs, it featured a full time guide and driver for whom we were paying the daily wages plus food and accommodation. Also, although Costa Rica has sort of normal costs within its general economy, we were enclosed in a tourist bubble, where resorts and restaurants change rather fabulous rates. For example, a chicken, rice, veggie, and salad lunch at a "soda" (normal restaurant) in the San Jose market came to 5000 colones for the two of us ($Can 14) and dessert and coffee at a nearby bakery cafe was $Can 6. By contrast prices at the sorts of resorts and restaurants we were brought to by the tour could normally be 12,000 colones ($Can 34), each, while at one place it was more like 18,000. 

It took these ten people to finance the guide, driver, and bus.


The arrangement with the tour was that at any place we were brought to, we could order anything at all, from the normal menu, in any quantity. Dodie balked at ordering a $50 dinner and wanted to search the menu for something cheaper. But one of our fellow tour members pointed out that when we had paid the flat rate for the whole tour, the tour company no doubt calculated at the top price for each restaurant, so why leave money (or in this case, steak) on the table.

Between the luxury accommodations, the guides, and restaurants, the tour cost for the two of us was  $Can 11,382 for 12 days. Costa Rica, unlike in Europe, has a strong tipping culture, and the tour company put forward some quite aggressive tipping suggestions for literally everyone we would come in contact with. We largely ignored this, but tips still added a few hundred dollars to the cost.

We added 3 nights to the front end of the tour time, and spent an extra day at the back end, living and eating in an airport. There was food and snacks involved in this, and some snacks, souvenirs, meds, and clothes needed during the tour. The grand total, except for airfare and health insurance, then came to about $Can 13,000. Using a generous 17 days as the total length of the trip, the daily cost comes to $764.  That's over 500 euros, which can be compared to the 130 and 138 euro figures we reported for our last two cycle trips in Europe.

That of course opens the question of was it worth it. We will turn our attention to that in the next post. But as a hint, we have already contacted Costa Rica Focus (the tour company) about eight days of birding near the Arenal volcano, and on the northern Pacific coast. Keeping the cost down is difficult, however, since in this country there is little alternative to the isolated resorts, private car transfers, and in-house restaurants. Bicycling around, as we'll mention later, is just not on!

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